I had celeriac (celery root) from my farmer’s market, and left over cider, so I thought I’d try this new recipe of Laura Wright’s. I’m so glad I did. Her extra step of searing the celery root before roasting it is marvelous, and the reduced cider mixture takes it over the top. That plate of food above any high end restaurant would be proud of. They’d just garnish the top with a few fancy micro greens to make it prettier, and charge top dollar.

I sliced my celery root as shown in the photo below, giving it the look of large home fries, lending the actual experience more of a surprise. You could cut them differently if you prefer, like in wedges, just make sure they are 1 inch thick.

If you have some of my Kashmiri Chili Sauce on hand, adding a couple tablespoons of that into the sauce instead of the red pepper flakes would be awesome. I used red pepper flakes here though, and it was also wonderful.

2 small or 1 large celery root, peeled, sliced 1 inch thick then cut in large chunks.
2 tablespoons olive oil
sea salt and ground black pepper, to taste
2 cloves garlic minced
2 teaspoons minced fresh rosemary
¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon grainy mustard
2 cups apple cider
chopped fresh parsley for garnish
¼ cup walnuts, chopped and toasted

Preheat the oven to 425°F, and toast the walnuts in the oven as it warms up.

Heat a large, heavy skillet over medium high heat, and add the olive oil. Place half of the 1 inch thick celery root  pieces into the hot oil, with room to flip them. Let the celery root sear on one side until golden brown, about 2 minutes. Let the other side become golden, and then transfer those pieces to a baking sheet. Repeat the process with the remaining celery root. (If some of your bits get too brown, like you can see mine did, no worries, they were still delicious.)

Once you have it all on the baking sheet, season generously with salt and pepper. Put the baking sheet into the oven and roast until tender and deeply golden, about 25 minutes.

While the celery root is roasting, prepare the glaze. In the same skillet, there should still be a nice slick of olive oil. Set the heat to medium. Add the garlic, rosemary and red pepper flakes to the skillet and stir. Once the garlic is very fragrant, about 1 minute in, add the apple cider vinegar. Let the apple cider vinegar sizzle and cook off for about 30 seconds.

Add the grainy mustard and apple cider to the skillet. Bring the mixture up to a boil. Keep boiling until you have about ½ cup reduced liquid, this process takes about 10 minutes. Keep checking in with it and stirring it. Once it’s reduced and syrupy, turn off the heat. As it cools, the glaze will thicken.

To serve, arrange the roasted celery root pieces on a serving plate. Drizzle the hot apple cider glaze over top. Garnish with the chopped parsley, and the toasted walnuts. Serve immediately.